Leia's Got a Royal Headache
by butterfly collective
Summary: Post-ROTJ, Leia's trying to move on with her life but what's a princess to do when there's an Alliance to build and a hot man in her hut?
1. Chapter 1

Watched the trilogy on Spike last week and so spun a blurb...hope you enjoy it...

* * *

Princess Leia Organa glanced around the hut where she and her boyfriend, Han Solo had been slumming in order to recover from both the destruction of the Empire and the two day celebration which followed.

She wasn't sure yet which event would require a longer time to get over

After all the liquor had been flowing as freely at the endless party, as much so as the fireworks had been sparkling overhead to mark the day of independence just as they were throughout the galaxy. Leia hadn't been all that sure why wiping out Dark Vader and a few ships not to mention the Death Star II had ended the crippling hold of the massive Imperial forces throughout such a large expanse of space but somehow, there had been a domino effect on all the worlds that had been enslaved by Vader and his minions and people were celebrating in the streets en masse within hours of the destruction of the latest Death Star.

So she and Solo had celebrated for a while drinking the native brew which had a foul stench to it but once you got past that, it actually slid down the palate stroking the senses with a delicate, airy flavor. Not to mention that it packed quite a wallop as piles of both slumbering rebel soldiers and furry midgets could attest.

Solo had tried his best to get frisky with her when they finally did return to their hut after a final round of singing all 50 verses of the Coruscant national anthem while swigging a fresh brew.

"Not tonight, darling," she whispered while his hands had settled around her waist.

How could Han think about getting into her furry hand woven dress when she had so much to think about now that her inebriation receded in the face of cold, stark reality. Yes, the Empire had finally been defeated, the achievement of a life-long dream that it seemed had been fed and nurtured to her before she had even been lying in a cradle if that made any sense. Who would rule this embryonic coalition so that it could avoid so quickly sowing the seeds of corruption and graft that had led to its crumbling and eventual downfall in the first place? After all, the Empire hadn't conquered the galaxy in a single day or even week. No, it had done so piecemeal winning its most powerful battles earlier on in the morally adrift Senate rather than through unleashing its deadly machines and latest armies of clones onto planets across the galaxy.

They would need an emergency declaration of laws to establish at least a pro tem government with a ruling body and if possible, a charismatic, strong yet pliable individual to lead it through the difficult and dark early days. Leia had thought that her newly discovered twin brother, Luke would be just perfect for the role but he had arrived at the party late after cremating their sorry excuse for a father, Anakin what's his name who later in life had become Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith after apparently murdering their mother. Leave it to her sentimentalist brother who engaged in some rather questionable New Age practices with elderly men and odd looking gnomes, anything to get away from the more pragmatic side of winning a galactic war. Sure, he swooped in usually at the 11th hour and yes, he usually wound up saving the day whether it was blowing up the first Death Star or well, doing…something on the Death Star II before Lando and Wedge had blown it to kingdom come. Something about defeating an Emperor…Palpatine…which was silly because everyone knew the guy had disappeared years ago and hadn't been seen since or at least there hadn't been any reliable sightings.

She could try persuading him to fill the shoes of the leader of the new Alliance which would lead to something more permanent only after years and perhaps even decades of hard work. Leia had already resigned herself to realizing that a trip to Coruscant, a place she loathed for its amorality and tacky architecture design was inevitable. She couldn't think of any other suitable seats for the new Alliance government. After all, Alderaan was clearly out for obvious reasons. All those historic and stately buildings etched as part of the magnificent mountain ranges that defined the planet blown into oblivion by one selfish act of the man who turned out to be her father.

Okay so maybe she did have a lot of decision making in her future and a boyfriend who clearly had his priorities mixed up but maybe she could park them for just a few minutes at least until she could figure out how to persuade Luke to do as she asked. After all, he was a national hero and a Jedi to boot, and members of that long defunct order were now the hottest tickets in the galaxy. Enrollment at a proposed Jedi School had been in huge demand even if there was only one Jedi left in the entire universe to provide instruction. She thought the vows to humility, passive resistance until attacked and the real killer, chastity would dissuade the parents who wanted their kids to be "like Luke" as the motto went on Gala-vision.

Thank the Rebellion and all it stood for that the Ewoks apparently didn't think much of electricity and modern technology so she had been spared exposure to the massive commercialism which had emerged quickly after the last Empire Star Destroyer had been blown up.

So Leia had taken a few days to reflect, totally unheard of for her and had spent time hiking and riding those speeders weaving through the trees that disappeared into the clouds before they topped out. Wicket had become like her tour guide and had shown her most of the forest moon of Endor. The little guys had taken such good care of her since she had first encountered Wicket. Dressing her up in cute little medieval looking dresses and providing her with the best food, okay so she had nearly been served up cuisine looking suspiciously like her friends but the accommodations had been lovely.

The hut she stayed in had been the nicest of those built within the statuesque trees where the population of Ewoks lived quietly under occupation by the Empire's forces until the rebellion interrupted the quiet truce between the residents on the Endor moon.

But Leia found it to be the most peculiar of moons because usually they represented satellites that revolved around a singular planet although if there were a planet that these moons clustered around, it had been rendered invisible at some point. Still if there wasn't an Alliance to build into a viable political and social movement, she could easily think about settling down here.

No, she didnt' but she almost convinced herself of that anyway.

* * *

Han Solo looked at his cards, his head still pounding from all the quaff he had imbibed in the past few days. The endless tap had finally been shut off, the music silenced and the skies darkened as everyone finally passed out from exhaustion for several days. He hadn't been tired at all and had been so interested in getting it on with Leia once he discovered that she couldn't get it on with Luke because they were brother and sister. Okay that had been a little weird and Han had been convinced there had been a back story to that relationship but his primary thought was that he finally had the princess to himself since that time they had spent with Luke dodging some slimy creature in the trash compactor inside the first Death Star.

It hadn't been love then, he wasn't all that sure it was now, because war, well it brought out more intense emotions in those who participated and now that peace had developed for the first time in his complicated relationship with Leia, who knew what lay ahead? But damnations, she was incredibly beautiful, her long tresses interwoven with braids and ribbons hung down her back, her face so innocent and yet so knowing at the same time.

Han figured the girl hadn't been around the block too many times so she wouldn't have much to judge him on involving his bedside manner and she looked perfectly willing at the party but since then…the weight of not just one world but that of the entire galaxy appeared to be on her slender shoulders. So she had become so busy talking with Mon Mothma over the tele-link the past day or so doing conference calls with other former Senate leaders who had been exiled or incarcerated on various planets.

Nothing like shacking up with a princess and a politician to boot.

So he and Chewbacca his right hand furry man had taken to playing poker with the grounded pilots awaiting their new assignments to provide security to the more unruly areas of the galaxy so that no man nor alien species could taken advantage of the confusion of conquest and succession for monetary or political gain. Luke was supposed to join them for at least a little while but he had taken off again…quietly without telling anyone. Leia who had this peculiar communication style with him said that he had gone off to the other side of the planet to fast and mediate. Han had just shrugged never being able to figure Luke out since he had discovered religion.

The only religion that Han had ever practiced had to do with money and though his service in the rebellion had softened him up a bit, he still kept his eyes out for the perfect deal and a post-empire world would be filled with them, opportunities to make money…of course a certain percentage…say 10 percent of all gains would go to the cause. But as for the rest, his ship needed repairs because Lando had come close to trashing it on his approach to nuking the Death Star II. Chewbacca had lamented about the hyper drive again, the damn thing always seemed to be on the blink since he hooked up with this bunch and given that the only legitimate market now was the black market, replacements didn't come cheap.

So if he didn't win major earnings in the next couple of hands, Han would have to think of other ways to make money…and that might mean hunting down that business card that a woman back on Coruscant's underworld had given him to do a modeling job for her. She had been putting together a collection of photographs, all taken with an artist's care and vision emphasizing taste over tacky or so she had promised. But the job did involve removing a couple items of clothing….

No, he couldn't do it, no matter how much he needed the money, not if he was hanging with a princess who would have a finger on the pulse of the brand new Alliance. How would it look if photos taken of him when…well it wouldn't look good if days before she hit the stage to deliver a stately address across the galaxy that revealing photos were plastered all over the gala-vision and elsewhere titled, "Princess Consort Has No Clothes".

He ran his hand through his hair, thinking of what he needed to do instead, something that didn't involve stealing, grifting or taking his clothes off or all three at once.

* * *

"Oooommmmm…"

The sound resonated through the crisp, clear air of the far side of the forest moon. The man sat in lotus position dressed in a dark robe that draped over his head, shadowing his face.

Luke Skywalker had joined his friends at the party after entombing his father in flames and scattering the ashes in the winds across the galaxy that he had conquered instead of protecting. The vision that Luke had of Anakin with Yoda and Obi-wan had reassured him that his father's expulsion from the Jedi Order had been in itself revoked by a last ditch good deed by a father to save his son from first his own fate, and then death.

His father, and now a sister, named Leia. The woman he had once fallen in love with and shared a couple of kisses with…but he tried not to think too much about that.

Leia still hadn't forgiven her father and still believed him a loser and that Bail Organa had been her true father and Vader (which she still called him) had wiped out her father when he wiped out Alderaan. Leia would just have to come around but Luke knew she was just stubborn about certain things. A part of him rejoiced that they were members of the same family and had shared a womb together but another part…well had been less than thrilled to find out that the woman he had loved would be out of his reach.

Not that she hadn't found love with Han though he knew the ex-pirate had his work cut out for him because her allegiance would be first to the Alliance and to any man in her life second…but of course she would spend her remaining time with the man who had captured her heart. Would they marry? Probably not because Leia being raised as a princess in name if not by birth had customs that she had to adhere to and that meant she had to marry another member of a royal family out there …if one could be found.

Han would have to face reality when that happened and just enjoy the here and now. In fact, Luke as her brother had received requests for her hand in marriage by a couple men identifying themselves as members of royalty. Of course anyone could say that especially in a galaxy now in complete disarray but he would assign investigative droids to check out their claims before they would even be given permission to meet his sister.

As for himself, as a Jedi he had taken a vow of humility, passivity and chastity and thus couldn't marry or even have a girlfriend really. He didn't know how Yoda, Ben and his father…oh wait his father had screwed up on those vows including the last one and that had been his downfall…as well as the chain of events leading to his and Leia's birth.

The weight of the meaning behind that profound thought hit him and he took a deep breath deciding to meditate on it some more, at least until his mind cleared again.

And in the galaxy somewhere another Jedi struggled to find his way to the master….


	2. Chapter 2

Lando looked at his best friend and former smuggling partner Han as they settled down at the makeshift bar on the forest moon of Endor that had formally housed an Imperial surveillance station.

Wicket had gotten some of his best mates together to concoct some especially potent brew that they had then stashed away later selling it to the bar which then sold it to the two former pirates. Their asking price had been rather high, Han thought, but he and Lando, they had really needed to kick back after all this hard work of figuring out how to rebuild a republic and relax a bit with some good brew. The prohibition rule issued by Darth Vader who feared that any liquor would rust his nonhuman parts had been abolished with the Empire and impromptu bars and pubs were popping up like mushrooms all over the rustic planet. The impact of the freely flowing alcohol on the Ewok population had led to widespread inebriation so their loosely formed ad hoc government had essentially shut down for an indefinite time.

Han had admired the little guys for their enterprising abilities but no wonder it had been so easy for the Empire's minions to take advantage of them and seize control of their remote planet given their weakness for gambling and moonshine alcohol. He and Lando had been drinking up a storm all afternoon while Han had mulled through his offers of employment including no less than six smuggling runs not to mention that offer to pose with his blaster and not much else by that steamy magazine. Chewbacca hadn't had much sympathy for his plight given that he rarely if ever wore clothing and didn't know why the admittedly hairless humans got themselves in a snit over it.

Why would anyone pay a hairless being money to pose naked, Chewbacca had asked in his peculiar language.

Han had just walked away from him at that point.

"So what's on the itinerary for when we leave this joint?"

Han looked at Lando struck by his casual attitude, which surprised him because Lando had been forced to leave his business, Bespin after the Empire had foreclosed on it. But then no one could keep a slick businessman like him down for very long.

"I don't know…Leia's been working day and night on the plans for the new government," Han said, "to avoid the mistakes made last time."

Lando nodded, remembering those dark years.

"Well absolute power corrupts…absolutely as they say," he said, "Actually I read that in a fortune cookie somewhere but it's the truth."

Han couldn't argue with that after all, Palpatine had been a nice man and benevolent leader once…before he had been corrupted by power and seized control of the Senate before it dissolved. Luke had blamed it all on something called the force that had been tied in with the whole Jedi mythology but Han believed it had simply old fashioned greed behind the emperor's actions. Leia had told him stories about his visits to her family home when she had been growing up and he had been like an uncle to her and a close friend of her adoptive father. But how quickly things would turn…once someone started welding power and liking it too much. That had filled her eyes with sadness because the betrayals by those she had long admired…had been piling up over the years.

She didn't even want to get started on her real father and what a creep he had turned out to be but then Han figured that getting held prisoner and tortured by your own family to give up state secrets had to be quite a trip.

"So what's in the cards for you Lando?"

His buddy looked at his hand and laughed.

"I'm thinking of staying here and starting a tourist bureau," Lando said, "including treks out into the wilderness here to check out the battle sites…maybe make an arrangement for some of the Ewok villages to host some of my guests in their rustic accommodations."

Han lifted a brow.

"Are you serious about that?"

Lando shrugged.

"I'll have to do some focus studies and galactic surveys to certain types of demographic groups to determine whether there's enough interest but…it's not as if I can go back to my business."

No, Lando couldn't because even though the Empire that had confiscated it had fallen out of power, the bureaucratic process not to mention all the red tape would keep it tied up in limbo for years…possibly decades. By then it would be floating scrap metal.

"I have to make some money soon," Lando said, "What about you Han, I heard about those modeling jobs."

Han sighed.

"It all sounds tempting but if Leia becomes part of this new…alliance republic and if any of those photos slipped out…"

Lando grinned.

"Leia wouldn't be too pleased would she?"

"No I don't think so," Han said, "and we're still trying to get us all figured out…I mean for a while there, I thought she was in love with Luke but then she told me he was her brother…and so he's out of the picture but she's keeping me at arm's length."

Lando sighed, trying to act all serious even though Han's befuddlement nearly made him crack up.

"Han old body…Leia's an old fashioned girl steeped in all the pomp and tradition that's steeped in royalty. You need to give her time and remember even if King Bail Organa's dead, there's still a part of him that's speaking inside Leia's head."

Han frowned.

"You mean that his expectations of her as a princess will still determine her actions?"

Lando nodded.

"I'm afraid so," he said, "I dated a princess from that free spirited little planet called Sartorius and it was me, her, 10 body guards and three ladies in waiting."

"But most of Leia's entourage died on Alderaan," Han said, "not to mention all the royal family."

"It doesn't matter Han," Lando reasoned, "Leia's so brainwashed at this point, so indoctrinated in the expectations of her as a member of royalty to act in any other way but to treat and view you as a commoner."

Oh Han didn't much like the sound of that. After all, she had been treating him as an equal at least on the battlefield. Sure she had been a bit haughty at first but a few kisses had softened her up to him.

"If you want her, you're going to have to change your approach towards her," Lando counseled.

Han bristled.

"I don't take advice on women from guys like you who've been married three times."

Lando shrugged and ordered some more quaff.

"I loved them all until they walked away with half of everything I owned," he grumbled, "And they call me a pirate."

Han chuckled, and leaned back in his chair. Kicking back with his friend had been exactly what he needed. There had been too much seriousness in his life lately, Now that the Empire would no longer crimp on his lifestyle, it was time to have some fun.

Leia just crossed her regal arms and looked up at her brother. Usually he didn't dwarf her but he had borrowed his late father's boots to provide him with a couple inches of additional height and she found the difference in him unnerving. But more important right now was that the fledgling Alliance needed a spokesman and he was the only choice.

Blonde, blue eyes, a few battle scars, a cutting edge state of the art bionic arm, dress him up a bit and airbrush a few imperfections and the Alliance would have its charismatic leader. After all, with this thing called the Force, how could Luke fail, especially with that uncanny gift of persuasion that had been whispered about in the shadows as being a "jedi trick" that bordered on coercion.

Nonsense, Leia thought, if it could pull the fraying edges of the fabric of this new political movement into line, she would take it. Some of the more conservative leaders might have their reservations but seriously, could any of the naysayers come up with a better option?

"Come on, Luke please agree, we need you," Leia cajoled, "We're at a critical but potentially dangerous phase of our transformation. You are exactly what's needed now."

Luke sighed, pulling his robe closer around himself and then looking at his sister.

"Leia…the force doesn't work in that way," he said, "I must honor it through my own life and that means I must eschew all form of politics and anything deemed not spiritual."

Leia felt like rolling her eyes but restrained herself. She had to choose her words carefully, given the stakes involved.

"Luke, I don't know if we can succeed without your leadership."

But her brother hadn't been born yesterday, in fact he had only been born nary a minute before her. He gave her a knowing look.

"Leia…what you are not asking but implying is that I'm to use my jedi mind skills to sell this political movement to the masses out there seeking direction…If I did that, it wouldn't be an alliance at all, but a cult."

Leia brokered her frustration with a smile.

"Oh Luke it wouldn't be that at all," she said, "Why must you be so harsh with me, all I'm asking is that you, a born leader, be the person who performs all the duties of leadership including presiding over all governmental meetings, dedication of governmental institutions and regular addresses to the populace on our progress."

She thought it couldn't put forward any simpler than that. But he shook his tousled head slowly again.

"No my dear sister Leia…I must decline this invitation and I must take leave of the forest moon of Endor at once to partake of a spiritual sabbatical."

She kept her regal bearing in line, fully trained to deal with frustrating situations such as this one. She would give him such leave but she wouldn't do so with her plan. Given time and some reflection, surely her brother would realize where his duties lie.

"When will I see you again?"

He embraced her and she felt the warmth of the goodness in him as she kissed him on the cheek. She watched him gather the cloak around him once more and disappear into some mysteriously appearing fog which she hadn't noticed earlier but then there were so many things about Luke she still didn't understand.

Sadness filled her heart where there had once been joy because if he wouldn't lead the new Alliance to a more enlightened age, then who would?


	3. Chapter 3

_"I'm too sexy for this shirt, too sexy for this shirt, so sexy it hurts…"_

Han had never heard the lyrics to that particular song before but then he had been too busy saving the galaxy from the evil Empire and so hadn't had much time for recreational pursuits such as listening to music at the many underground clubs that had sprouted up beneath the radar of the occupational forces.

But now he had been making up for lost time because he had spent the morning on a photo shoot for the new calendar spread that would be spotlighting different heroes of the recent battle that had ended decades of tyrannical rule. The no nonsense director and two men operating cameras had been either barking orders or clicking snapshots of what they deemed to be his better side. Now Han had always been proud of his physique, having honed it through his life as a smuggler and later as a general in the Alliance, from his six-pack abs to his rather impressive biceps. He had begun the shoot by wearing his handy uniform that he used to fly his ship and then as item after item of clothing had been shed, he had been down to just him and his strategically placed blaster. He didn't know what he would do if they took his weapon away from him leaving him there buck naked.

He had been talked into doing the photo shoot after a couple more enterprising bounty hunters had come after him seeking payment for some impressive gambling debts he had jettisoned from one end of the cosmos to the next. He knew he couldn't disgrace Leia's efforts to rebuild a new and more improved Republic by being the target of salacious gossip. They had been watching the gala-vision to see all the scandals that broke across the galaxy when the hi-jinks of some of the corrupt politicians came to light, the ones who had sold their souls to the Empire.

But Han couldn't worry about that, he had to get himself photographed, pick up some smooth cash and pay off these debts before Leia got wind of them. It was bad enough that every royal monarchy in the galaxy had an eligible eldest son for her to consider for marriage to merge different dynasties together, to secure an advantage in the new Republic before its constitution had even been drafted and ratified by a governing board yet to be compiled.

Luke had vetoed all requests to slip into the role of the charismatic leader who would bind the contentious groups of the alliance together not to mention bringing in all those flaky neutralists. The itinerary drafted for Leia looked brutal enough, over 100 planets visited in two months. Not much time for her and Han to work out the parameters of their burgeoning relationship. But then he had known what he had been getting into when he paired up with her to begin with, trying to find some warmth on the frozen Hell of Hoth. She sure could kiss considering she had only kissed one man who hadn't turned out to be a blood relative and Han seriously thought she had a hot side of her that had only begun to be tapped into…and he didn't want the blossoming of that side of the princess to be endangered by her royal and not so royal duties. Han had always been a slink in the background, hang out in dimly lit dens of ill repute kind of guy and he didn't know if he could handle the fishbowl environment of hanging around with the princess of the galaxy…but he did know he loved her.

"All right Han…we're going to need to take your gun…"

He looked at his blaster, the one thing that stood between him and…he sighed and gave it up and the flashbulbs started popping.

* * *

Leia sighed as she looked at her planning assistant, Angelica, who being a cross between a human and a blue-skinned alien with fuzzy antennae had attracted attention on the forest moon of Endor. But now that they were back on the horrible re-capitalized Coruscant, she had found herself surrounded by an assortment of aliens and humans from all over the galaxy. Everyone it seemed wanted a piece of her these days and her days and nights just didn't include enough hours to accommodate everyone's demands.

Not to mention all the invitations she was getting to attend royal balls on various worlds, which loosely translated meant the meat market for monarchs and their heirs. She knew as a princess even one coming from a planet that was now an asteroid belt, she held considerable fascination for many a royal family and that the kings and queens on these planets would be scouting her out as a suitable mate for their eldest male offspring.

"Are you listening Leia," Angelica scolded, "This is what's going to get you through the 30 day program, that's when the most effective leadership can be accomplished during the so-called honeymoon period."

Leia just nodded wearily. She had been at this all morning. Royalty training classes for her had once again been in full swing, beginning a couple of minutes after she set foot back in this urbanized planet. She had been shacking up in an impressive looking mansion on the outskirts of the center of the city in a neighborhood which had been impressive at one time but more recently had fallen in a state of decay and neglect. Rebuilding had started on the sector because eventually most of the ambassadors, diplomats and senators would be living here in equally impressive looking estates. Han had taken off that morning on a mysterious errand, one that he had been very tightlipped about as had Chewy who had been fixing up Han's ship in a hanger not too far away from the capitol building.

Angelica might not know this, but Leia had hidden a stash of moonshine quaff from the forest moon of Endor and had been imbibing it, whenever her assistant had left the room to handle some detail. After a couple swigs, warmth and lightness had permeated Leia's body and mind. She smiled a lot more as Angelica droned on with the instruction on the history of the galaxy which Leia already knew and about the social ethics and mores of over 150 species on a quadrant of planets and moons in one system. Leia had to pack pretty soon to be prepared to travel there to meet with the newly added leaderships to the Republic. As that system had sat in the midst of the largest neutral zone, they were new to the program and she had to sell it to them because several of the planets had impressive mining industries which could add plenty of capital to the Republic's treasure chest.

"Leia…are you even here…."

She nodded, but a bit more slowly and Angelica's eyes narrowed, her finely tuned set of three nostrils sniffed.

"What is that I smell…," she said, walking closer to where Leia had stashed her quaff. She opened the drawer and pulled it out with her sucker tipped fingers.

"You've been drinking…again…Leia when are you going to admit you have a problem?"

Leia shook her head.

"I just needed something to take the edge off," she said, "I'm exhausted from all this training and I haven't seen Han all day."

Angelica had a distasteful look.

"You know, you…he…you can't engage in any sexual interaction with him or no future king in the galaxy will want you…"

Leia rolled her eyes.

"How damn archaic," she said, "How do you know…I …he haven't already partaken of such liberties?"

Angelica folded her blue arms.

"It is known that you and he have not consummated your relationship if you call it that yet…and you mustn't…the entire Republic rests on your purity."

Leia blinked…did she just hear Angelica right? Since when did they return to that archaic period before the end of the Empire?

"But I can't…he's the one I love…"

Angelica hissed.

"What do you know of such things," she said, "Besides for a princess, duty comes before salacious undertakings."

Leia sighed, damn she hadn't known these crazy and repressive rules before she sighed up for this duty…wait a minute, she hadn't even signed up, all this was forced upon her. She knew that her twin, Luke as a member of the Jedi had taken on a vow of chastity but she was a red blooded woman and could do no such thing. Besides, what would Han think, when he discovered the Republic wanted her to marry into royalty?

He wouldn't like it at all. He would tell her to screw the Republic and then realized that was a poor choice of words. Oh, when had life gotten so complicated, you defeat a repressive regimes only to realize that the real struggles had just gotten started.


	4. Chapter 4

Leia sighed as she lay on top of her most uncomfortable bed stashed away in the royal suite she now called home while she continued her royalty training. Angelica interrupted the strict regimen every so often to provide an update on the status of the creation of a new society.

It would serve as the replacement for the repressive and totalitarian government that they had just defeated, with the last of the prisoners of war heading off to the salt mines of the Dragoman system. Good riddance, she thought as images of them slaving in meager attire under the blazing twin suns for the rest of their lives filled her mind.

But she had met with the ad hoc council this morning and they had agreed that they must avoid the mistakes made by the leaders of the Old Republic, meaning that they needed to remain a vibrant democratic republic and not turn into a bureaucratic and corrupt political entity that would gradually erode until it too was overthrown by a fascist regime.

She though more of her time needed to be spent working on the development of the new government which would be of parliamentarian style rather than waste precious hours each day relearning how to be a member of royalty. There had been talk of restructuring the new galactic society as a circle of monarchies consisting of the surviving royal families including that of Alderaan. But Leia knew the pitfalls of such practices first hand and though she had dearly loved her adoptive family, she had no desire to be part of that system.

All her life she had been the dutiful and responsible daughter of Bail Organa, matured by experience and training and wise beyond her years…but something had been missing. She had given all of her energy, her time and nearly her life to the rebellion but now that it had ended, she discovered she wanted more from her life than just adhering to the regime assigned to her by her birth.

Or what most of the galaxy thought had been the circumstances of her entrance into a royal family. Her adoption still remained a secret known by few survivors mainly Han and Luke and she had decided to keep it under wraps. Besides if everyone around her who looked at her as a leader knew she was the secret child of Darth Vader and a dead woman who'd once been a queen, her life would be ruined. It would be almost as bad if anyone knew she and Luke were blood relatives. Now Luke was viewed by nearly everyone in their organization as a true galactic hero, an icon for the new age but people also viewed him as being more than a bit eccentric. Just as many people viewed the whole Jedi Knight deal as more than a bit suspect.

She didn't need that to rub off on her…not right now. Not with so many decisions to make, not to mention what her new wardrobe would look like, which seasonal balls she would attend and what to call the new system of planets.

Not to mention that there were some unenlightened men out there who believed that her only meaningful contribution despite her leadership would be to marry into a powerful royal family and cement the band of kingdoms into a powerful player in the government's new format.

Angelica seemed pressed in that direction and Leia grew weary of the pressure her assistant put on her to think of her future, which for Angelica met dolling herself up and marrying some prince of a planet somewhere. But that just sounded so archaic to Leia who after all had a smoking hot ex-pirate turned rebellion hero who'd fallen in love with her. She sighed trying to get comfortable, remembering how it had felt when she'd kissed Han for the first time inside his spaceship, just the two of them fumbling their way to each other and when his lips had touched hers, it had sent heat searing inside of her snowsuit. Damn C3PO for interrupting him just when he'd been about to slip his hand up her jacket.

Not that his roaming fingers hadn't already met her breasts, which happened when they were making out inside their little tree hut on the Endor moon. He'd wanted to go all the way and she knew how much when he placed his body on top of hers but she just couldn't do it. Not that she didn't want to feel his lips on her mouth and his hardness inside of her but the responsibilities which had weighed on her shoulders for so long hadn't left.

She couldn't park him just because he wanted to get horizontal with her and she with him. Maybe later when the political situation calmed down somewhat, until then she'd have to rely on her skill at pleasing herself, while imagining the dark haired pirate's hands were stroking her skin, sending her to new heights.

"Princess Leia…"

Angelica had entered the room and Leia just looked at her irritated.

"Don't call me that…only Han can do that and only when….oh never mind."

Her assistant just sighed.

"Where is that scoundrel anyway," she said, "I heard he was gambling with that Lando character and drinking up a shipload of quaff."

Leia frowned.

"I called the bar," she said, "They said he wasn't there. He took off after the game."

Angelica shook her head.

"How long are you going to let that…that gigolo hang around you…he's nothing but trouble."

"He saved our rebellion more than once," Leia said, "Really Angelica, this snobby side of you isn't very pleasant."

Angelica looked anything but apologetic.

"I'm just looking out for you and your future," she said, "and I don't see a place for him in it.'"

Leia sat up straight on her bed and folded her arms, looking defiant.

"Well I do. He and I…we love each other and we're going to get married…some day."

Angelica wrinkled her forehead.

"Oh really…I wasn't aware he'd proposed."

Leia sighed.

"Well he hasn't but he knows we can't get married now anyway, not with everything that's going on with the government being formed."

Angelica just fumed and really Leia felt like slapping her for her words against the man she loved who was…where was he anyway?

After her assistant walked out, she realized she needed an answer to that question.

* * *

Han sighed after getting his first installment for his modeling gig and he swore to himself he'd save it to pay off his debts and not take it to the next gambling match. While heading back towards the civic hall to hopefully meet up with Leia for some quiet time, he passed the mediation garden where he saw a robed figure who could only be one person.

Luke.

He walked over there and saw the younger man his hands clasped, his face reflective and his lips moving, uttering some unintelligible words.

"What's going on Luke?"

The man ignored him and Han just shrugged as he sat on a nearby bench.

"Okay then…you want to hear about my day."

Luke didn't answer so Han figured that he hadn't objected.

"You know I love Leia more than I can breathe…but all these responsibilities and titles that are being thrust on her all at once…it's a bit much Luke. I mean I knew what I was getting myself into by shacking up with her…well living together because there's no…well never mind I'm not sure you've gotten any lately either…'

Luke smiled but Han didn't know why so he just took it as encouragement to keep talking.

"Well anyway, I was thinking about popping the question but I'm a bit short on cash flow paying that line of creditors off and she's…she's used to a certain style of living so I got myself another job…"

Luke looked up at him, his wizened face peeking from his hood and Han swore for a moment there, he looked just like that crazy old coot who had hired him to fly him to Aldernaan so long ago.

"Leia must be trained in the force just as I was…or this government will not last."

Han looked taken aback. He hadn't even gotten to the part on how weird he thought the whole Jedi deal was and Leia's whole relationship with her brother where they didn't even have to talk to each other, they could just read each other's minds.

"Luke, I don't know if she has the time for that on her busy schedule," Han said, "She barely has time for me."

The Jedi looked troubled then.

"Then we'll all die…millions upon millions of people dead if she renounces her familial heritage.

What Luke said just overwhelmed Han and he just stood there staring at him not believing that the fate of the universe rested on his girlfriend becoming a Jedi knight. No way, no how, especially since it was a very isolated existence which apparently included a celibacy clause.

No, that definitely wouldn't work out in their relationship, but if Luke told her the fate of the galaxy lay in her hands would she bite?

Han sighed as he sat in the meditation garden thinking she just might.


	5. Chapter 5

Leia couldn't believe her eyes…they must be paying tricks on her. She had been watching the holo-screen while she'd been getting ready for her latest council meeting and a familiar looking body had flashed in front of her.

She had been slipping on her royal blue gown that fell just below her knees after sliding on her sheer stockings. Normally she didn't dress so formally for cabinet meetings but Angelica had advised her that there might be some guests appearing to lobby on behalf of economic development on their planet system. She did wear a few wisps of lingerie underneath her regal attire but that would be a surprise for Han later on if he showed up.

Oh wait…no she couldn't give herself to him or any man until she was royally betrothed to an appropriate groom, probably someone with some familial or political ties to some royal family somewhere across the galaxy. She would have to start thinking about that part of her future pretty soon before the scions of economic and political power started putting pressure on her to conform to the norms of her social standing.

What economic and political power, she thought. Everything had fallen apart along with the Evil Empire. Although the dictatorship had kept many a planet's economic industries stable through relentless and very regimented control, many individuals engaged in it, alien or human had felt stifled by the brutal control of the Emperor and his minions. His death and that of Vader's along with the collapse of the dominos that formulated the Imperial forces had sent most industries spinning into total chaos.

So she didn't know what she would do to help mediate any type of economic engagements but she could listen to their sales pitches anyway. Along with the rest of the fledgling council.

Where was Han, she wondered, not having seen him though the rumors had already hit her that he was playing some weird hybrid of sabaac and poker with Lando and some unsavory characters again. He never had completely shed the scoundrel inside him and though she'd never admit it publicly, she hoped that he never would.

But her thoughts left her as her eyes fixated on the holo-screen where she saw a man's body saunter across the screen. The lean but muscular build of what must be an incredible hunk of man filled her view and she felt heat flush her cheeks and her palms grow sweaty.

Just looking at her made her feel incredible aroused and yet as her breath came more rapidly, her eyes narrowed because…because….

He looked kind of familiar.

The swirly whorls of dark hair on his muscular chest, his flattened abdomen and those shoulders….oh the blood rushed through her just then making her feel more than flushed. And then the camera dropped and oh…her cheeks felt hot as she found herself gazing at a part of a man…hmmm….she knew what she was looking at but…her hands fidgeted as she wanted to touch it…her mouth…then she felt embarrassed.

Winter, her handmaiden rushed inside and saw immediately what had captured Leia's attention.

"What's Han doing prancing butt naked on the holo-screen?"

Leia's eyes suddenly widened.

Say what? Was that really Han that was flashing on her screen naked as the day he'd been born right now?

But first things first….she turned to Winter and scrutinized her.

"Wait…how do you know it's Han?"

Winter just folded her arms and rolled her eyes at Leia.

"How could I not know," she said, "He's got rather…distinctive features don't you think?"

Leia feel that wave of heat rushing through her again as she sat on her bed.

"What do you mean?"

Winter sighed, plopping on a chair near Leia.

"You know…don't you?"

Leia just sighed and looked away. But she didn't want her longtime confidante to know this about her so she shifted the subject.

"Why on earth is he strutting around without any clothes," she said, "He must know that the paparazzi are just looking for opportunities to make me look bad…it's bad enough they already think he's a gigolo."

Winter's gaze sharpened.

"Really? Well I can see why…."

Leia arched one of her brows at her.

"Well entirely based on his looks of course but Leia, does it really matter what they think?"

Leia hedged.

"Maybe….it's just that it's a very sensitive time right now…politically speaking…we're forming a new…a better government. "

Winter blinked her eyes which were all colors of the rainbow depending on her mood.

"You know that they're going to want you to find a more suitable consort."

Leia sighed, lying back on her bed knowing that to be the truth.

"I know but Han for all his faults…his lack of breeding and manners…his uncouth style and questionable wardrobe…I want him."

Winter nodded.

"Then you'd better come up with a good appeal for the council," she said, "Because they have already placed the call to prospective consorts for you across the galaxy…even to the five major princes of the outward sector of planets."

Leia sucked in her breath, sensing that the council must be growing more than a little desperate to be initiating a hunt so soon. It didn't leave her much time….but then…well not all the princes out there were unhandsome.

Winter got up off of her chair and flicked a braid of hair off of her shoulder.

"You need to get ready for the council…just in case."

Leia sat up and felt the gravity of her situation hit her. She got up turning her back to the familiar looking man on the holo-screen. If Han did return after indulging his proclivities for vice, he would have some explaining to do.

* * *

Han fell asleep on the cot after finishing another glass of quaff. It was too sweet for him, tart on the tongue when he usually went for spicy hot liquor but the way it relaxed his muscles…a languor overtook him as he fell on the bed.

A green skinned two headed alien woman began his massage…sliding his robe off of him bearing his shoulders and his back. She poured some decadent oils on his skin and began working her magic with her hands…sending waves of heat through his body.

But the visions that soon filled his mind became more lurid. In his mind's eye, he saw Leia standing in front of him with some sheer gauze wrapped around her in the form of a strapless dress, sheathing her lush body. Lightly muscled yet curvy the way he had realized too late in life that he liked his women. She smiled at him, her dark brown hair spilling in waves around her shoulders and down her back. She so very rarely wore it down, free like that in ways that intoxicated a man to stroke it with his fingers before wrapping the silken locks around them.

He stroked her face, so smooth and then their lips met willingly enough…tasting, teasing and yet testing each other's wills at the same time. She smiled in between, her eyes dancing as she slid her arms around his waist.

"Han…."

"Leia…"

The woman doing the massage stopped for a moment.

"Who's Leia….?"

Han sighed.

"Oh a woman I know…."

The alien continued with her attentions and Han's mind returned to where he had begun sliding his tongue across Leia's lips, tracing their boundaries and teasing the seam of her mouth…daring it to open to receive him. But she teased him right back, not letting him in. Even as her hands wandered underneath his shirt and soon enough, their coolness hit the warmth of his chest and he groaned as she traced around his nipples, gliding her fingers across his firm stomach.

His own hands slid down her gauze as he parted it with his fingers, just right as if not to tear it. Her breasts stood pink and firm in front of him, her rosy nipples already starting to harden. He groaned as he felt himself grow harder…as her hands glided down him further still until…..

"Hey Han…you busy?"

Han looked up at Luke from where he lay and saw the young earnest man dressed in his Jedi robe attire with his light saber hooked at his sash.

"Uh…kind of Luke, is it important?"

The alien stepped away and appraised Luke carefully.

"Ah…a Jedi Master in my parlor…what an honor," she said, "I'll leave you two alone to discuss business."

Luke's face grew more serious after the alien left.

"What is it Luke," Han said, "You already told me that Leia needs to drop everything to do her Jedi training and we both know she won't do it."

Luke nodded gravely.

"I know and I still need you to change her mind…the galaxy depends on it…there's a new threat."

Han frowned, wasn't that the way it usually worked? Vanquish one form of evil despot and another emerged in its place?

"I don't know if I can change her mind Luke," he said, "She's adamant and she usually does as she pleases."

Luke tilted his face.

"The council wants to marry her off to one of the princes…to cement the partnership of the five royal families…will you let her do this?"

Han hadn't given it much thought. Except that surely she didn't involve herself in those situations, thinking it all too antiquated for her. Luke just stared at him in that way of his that was so unnerving.

"Han you've got to stop her," Luke said, "If she marries one of those princes she can't do her Jedi training."

Han had bigger problems than her just not being a Jedi Master. If she hooked up with a prince, she couldn't hook up with him and he'd been thinking a lot lately of why he did want to hook up with her.

But first things first…what to do about Luke's request….


	6. Chapter 6

Leia so did not want to be a Jedi knight.

She knew it'd break the heart of her beloved twin brother who had wanted to train her in the ancient ways but she just had too much on her plate already. What with being the president of the newly appointed Senate and being courted by a host of royal families that had survived the regime of the Old Empire to rebuild their kingdoms.

Han had been caught with his pants down and just about the rest of his clothes missing as part of an advertising campaign. The reporters had been buzzing her all morning about her response to the illicit photos of her consort to be that had been blasted from one end of the galaxy to another. God, how could he do that to her and yet at the same time, the image of him strategically placing a blaster in front of his you know what stirred something deep inside of her.

Her long dead adoptive mother, the queen of Alderaan might disapprove as might her grandmother Padme who had been one of the greatest leaders of Naboo, but Leia wanted to lose her chastity belt that she'd been wearing since she turned 16. Winter her aide teased her about her impatience at jumping into the sack with Han but it really wasn't funny. Damn she had it bad for him and she knew he wanted her to drop the whole purity deal and start being his woman in all kinds of ways. It made her feverish to think of his mouth kissing not just her rosy lips but her…rosy lips. Her face flushed at the forbidden thoughts which ran through her head. Members of royalty didn't have these lurid thoughts and even though her royal line had pretty much been annihilated, she still felt she owed her dwindling number of people that legacy.

Mixing her royal obligations with her legislative duties with a strong dose of political maneuvering added to the mix, it just stressed her out. Han knew that and he'd said he felt sympathy towards her but then what did he do? He let some opportunistic photographer for some helio-rag sweet talk him down to being nearly buck naked and then prancing in photos with an assortment of…props. God she recognized some of them including the exotically adorned tiara and the glittering handle of a whip but the rest of it…was she really that clueless in this area?

Luke would want an answer soon so she stood on her balcony looking out at the great glittering lights of Corsica. When she wasn't wearing the floor thin through her pacing….because she felt so conflicted. Yes a part of her wanted to be trained in the ways of a Jedi. It was her only connection to her real father and though he was the worst kind of scum, she felt that his skills could be useful to her in the way they had been to Luke.

But the rules, damn they were just so strict.

No booze. No gambling not even a harmless game of Sarbaac and worst of all, no sex.

So she probably would have to say thanks but no thanks to Luke and she knew that would injure him so profoundly, so deeply that he might never recover. Yes, she would find a way to make it easy for him but the rules were out now that she was being courted by a half dozen virile princes who wanted to be kings.

All ruggedly handsome, powerfully built and their…packages looked impressive what little she saw of them. Maybe part of the decision making process on which one to marry and procreate with would allow her to do some test driving…after all it's not like her parents were around to tell her not to do it.

* * *

Luke sighed as C3PO trained in his new job as a pleasure droid. It hadn't been his idea but the new commander of Sector 8 felt that more entertainment was needed for the troops still needed to patrol the edges of the galaxy for any rogue imperial troops. Rumors abounded that some of the Emperors most trusted guards had survived the explosion of Death Star Redux and had escaped while the rebels had been partying hard with the Ewoks on Endor's moon.

Damn he knew he had drunk too much that night to numb his emotions over burning his father in a funeral pyre. He could hear the celebration and music faintly from where he stood watching the corpse of his father crackle and turn into ash.

After that, he had eschewed his training and had gotten plastered on that amazing ale distilled by the Ewoks which got everyone horribly inebriated. Things happened the night of the big celebration that people didn't want to talk about and some pretended not to remember. Luke himself remembered very little of that night except the vision of Yoda and Ben standing in old age next to the much younger looking Annikan Skywalker which made absolutely no sense because Ben hadn't been _that_ much older than his father.

Wedge had gone off with some floozy to one of the huts and Leia and Han had danced under the triple moonlight all night long. Lando had drunk more than any of them and had to be peeled off of the ground and carried to sleep it off in another hut.

The place had looked so wrecked and the Ewoks shrugged off any offers of help to clean it up.

So long ago it seemed and yet, like yesterday. Time did funny things after the ousting of the evil empire.

"Master Luke?"

He looked up at a very buffed and polished C3PO who muttered to himself.

"I don't believe I can do this. I can't pull it off. I'm not good at dancing."

The droid was right about that because he'd looked bloody awful the night of the party but no one really cared and few remembered. C3PO would be given a clean slate to prove himself in his new position which should make him quite happy.

But Goldenrod as Han named him liked to fret about everything.

"You'll be fine 3PO," Luke said, "Consider it a new chapter to the greatest of adventures."

The droid nodded reluctantly.

"Very well, but they can look but not touch."

"Seems fair enough to me," Luke said, "Leia was supposed to meet me here with her decision."

C3P0 started walking away.

"Maybe her transport got delayed," he said, "but I think with the six princes sending their wishes of consortium that any training will have to wait."

That's what troubled Luke. He didn't want Leia to forget her roots and neglect the training that she might need to protect herself and the new government.

But how could he get her to see that?

He needed to come up with a plan.


	7. Chapter 7

C3P0 found that being the newest pleasure droid at the club didn't turn out to be as difficult as he thought. Nor was it awful, a disgrace to his reputation. In fact, he arrived each night to holo chats and cards from all the women who wanted to experience his brand of pleasure.

It hadn't been his first choice on what to do once the Empire collapsed after the rebellion quashed it on the moon of Endor but along with liberation had come the worst recession in the galaxy's recorded history. The collapse of government's often bred both economic and political instability and it worsened the more rigid and totalitarian the government proved to be. It didn't get any more so with the Evil Empire with the Emperor in control and the lords of the Sith including Darth Vader carrying out his dark mission.

C3P0 faced eviction right when he returned to the capitol city of Coruscant as the pad that had traced back to him had faced a huge rent hike after the economical collapse. People were scrambling around for cash and everyone was selling everything that wasn't nailed down including their bodies. He knew that his work as a pleasure droid would ensure that he could keep his home and with R2D2 manning the bar, they could both maintain the lifestyle which they had become accustomed.

He had seen Luke fret though. Something to do with Princess Leia's reluctance to become a Jedi alongside her twin brother…something about the vows of purity, poverty and that hardest one of all, chastity had repelled her. She'd been planning to get it on with Han now that they were both free of the rebellion and had some time spent in the same place without either one of them being in carbonated freeze.

But Luke had it set in his head that his sister had to be trained in the ancient ways of the Jedi, like Yoda, Obi-wan and his own father, Anakin…well scratch him because he'd gone down the dark path to the even darker side. Leia had still refused to accept the man as her father because all she could see was the man who had tormented her when he held her captive in the Death Star. She could never forgive him for trying to torture the information about the hidden rebel base and then tricking her into revealing it by threatening to blow up Alderaan with the Death Star's intense laser beam. She'd tried to outfox him back by claiming it was on the most remote locale she could think of which was Dantoone but he'd gotten the last laugh by blowing up her beloved home planet anyway.

He turned it to asteroid dust with the flip of a switch and she'd never fully recovered from the trauma. No one blamed her for what happened to the doomed planet but she never really forgave herself. That made her more prone to engaging in high risk activities like going out drinking and dancing which she'd been doing since the Empire had fallen.

C33P0 had listened to all of this as programmed to do but he didn't get any of it. He didn't understand humans and their proclivities. He didn't drink fermented liquids himself and he didn't smoke strange substances in order to see images which didn't exist and except as a pleasure droid, he didn't engage in exotic pursuits. He couldn't really feel except what he'd been programmed to do so. But the tips he'd gotten in the past two weeks, more than enough to pay the rent.

R2D2 rolled in from having shown a holograph to a prospective student of Luke's who had been sent to see him by a vision but had trouble with some of the steep requirements that had kept Leia way. Being a Jedi just wasn't as ultra cool as it had been decades or even centuries ago when they'd been deified. There were old etchings and even paintings of some of the revered Jedi knights including Luke and Leia's father.

Now people thought about them and said so what. The soldiers of the Rebellion were what captivated the attention of everyone who caught their act on the holovision. Even though Luke with his father's help had vanquished the Evil Emperor, that feat hadn't captured the attention of anyone in fact few people knew about it. Everyone knew that the Death Star Part Deux had been blown up by Lando and Wedge while Han and Leia had coordinated a ground attack which had taken out the shield that protected the Death Star.

No one knew that Luke had performed heroic actions of his own and that irked him. Not that being a Jedi allowed him to care because then he'd be showing pride which was absolutely forbidden and punishable by death. He had to linger on the background and pretend that he didn't care that his bravery remained unknown to most denizens in the galaxy.

C3P0 knew that such a thing would drive most men to drink but Luke wasn't most men. He'd get over it soon enough and if Leia would agree to undergo Jedi training, he'd get over it a lot faster.

* * *

Leia sighed as she sorted through the invites from all the different kingdoms out there including many she didn't know existed. All with royal families with eldest sons who needed a virginal woman to marry to become their queens.

Screw that, Leia thought. She'd been a princess most of her life and where had it got her? She had nearly been left homeless and penniless except she had wound up on this planet and inside the villa that had been hidden in the Emperor's home town.

Han had been hiding out since the scandal about his modeling career broke. He said he'd just been trying to serve as the breadwinner for their household but she didn't know if she bought into it. She knew he was a strapping man who had enjoyed the company of other women before even meeting up with her on the original Death Star.

Their romance had been a fly by the seats of the pants kind of affair and the danger of uncertainty of their future which is what turned their original animosity into searing passion but now that the danger had passed…how could they move on from here?

She just didn't know what would happen to the two of them now and trying to rekindle their romance just took more energy and time than she had right now.

"_I really want you to learn the ways of the Jedi," Luke had said, "Both of us will be needed if we're going to be able to keep the dark side of the force forever at bay…"_

Luke could never make that kind of pledge and he must have been desperate to try and do that. But she knew she couldn't do it not even for him. She knew that Jedi trainees and knights couldn't enjoy pleasures of the flesh and her body and its purity was all she had to offer the royal families who sought to expand their own kingdoms. She would have thought that the ancient monarchies of centuries past would have faded with the collapse of the Empire that manipulated them to hold onto its own strongholds but these traditions refused to die and as the surviving royalty of Alderaan, its princess she felt duty bound to choose her future wisely including her consort.

Han would just have to understand that it would never work between them. She felt like she was a wanton woman living in sin and they hadn't even done anything yet. Nor would they if the aides that surrounded her had their way.

She knew they expected her to save the fledgling republic but seriously steeping it in a royal union among its leadership wasn't the way to do it.

And she didn't want to be the one to do it. She wanted to go out and get drunk, party and dance and then spend the night with Han, scandal be damned.

But none of this lie in her future and what was she going to do about that? What could she do?

She could run away.


	8. Chapter 8

Leia sat in the royal bathtub hoping that the hardship of her day would just rinse away down the drain with the soap crystals. She'd washed herself after slaving in the garden where she'd planted some Star Glaze flowers that had been native to Naboo the planet where her mother had been born and had reigned as a child. That world which consisted of one main kingdom that ruled supreme had a peculiar custom of anointing as queen, a young girl who would serve that role until she turned 16 and then she would step down to be replaced by a younger girl trained for that purpose from birth.

Naboo had valued youthful beauty over maturity and experience, not the only planet to do that but the most famous. Her mother had been known later on as Padme before she'd gone off and had that illicit affair and secret marriage to a younger man who had been undergoing Jedi training. Oh, it was scandalous just to think about it because consorting with a Jedi was tantamount to defiling a high priest. If anyone had known about it, Padme would have been socially ruined, damaged goods and her twin babies would have been torched as abominations.

Luckily for Leia and her brother, that hadn't happened but they'd both been consigned to separate homes on planets that couldn't be further distant from one another and neither knew of the other.

Until fate brought them together….on the Death Star. Leia lay back in the rippling water that erupted in colorfully lucid bubbles around her about the crush she'd had on the young farm boy turned reluctant hero of the rebellion. She'd even kissed him…twice on the mouth! Once, "for luck" before he grabbed hold of her and swung them both across an impossibly deep chasm in the Death Star and then later on Hoth mostly to piss off Han. The space pirate turned reluctant hero of the rebellion had just told her that he'd be getting on the ship with that hairy naked beast named Chewbacca and going off to settle some old debt by a gangster named Jabba the Hut.

She made a face at the memory of that vile slug, who had dressed her in some skimpy costume and chained her to his throne…to be his exotic dancer and maybe sex slave. Hah, she'd shown him when she'd choked him to death on her own chain and then went to rescue Han who had grown on her a bit since being frozen up in the carbonite.

Maybe she really was in love with him but when he'd scandalized himself serving as tabloid fodder for those nude photos that had been taken of him with only his carefully positioned blaster serving as clothing The whispers had gotten back to her and Winter had informed her that Han who had been a revered hero of the rebellion was now viewed as akin to a gigolo, the closest thing the burgeoning new republic had to a sex symbol.

She couldn't have that right now, not during the early delicate moments of power consolidation. Mon Mothra had instructed her on exactly what she had to do to assume the role of leader of the political side of the new order.

Han had thrown a crimp in her plans and she knew that hadn't been his intention at all. He'd been trying to help her. Not mess up her life and her future. She'd been in seclusion since then and allowed no one to see her.

She'd still been getting missives and holo videos of the different princes of the royal families still determined to court her for marriage. But she didn't love any one of them like she did the rascally pirate who she'd unfrozen from the carbonite dressed like an alien just because she loved him that much.

She just didn't know what had gotten into him with these nudie photos…well not completely naked but still…she was trying to establish the new republic and scandals like this while they might attract attention and interest didn't help matters at all.

"Leia are you done with your bath yet?"

She looked up to see Winter wander in the room with her royal robe draped over her arm. She knew she had another dining engagement with Prince Wallace from the Planet of Batoonah in the star system of Barona in less than two hours…then after that a nightcap with His Royal Highness Burke Wallington from Planet Satoris from the star system of Myrukas. If it wasn't fort the implant she'd had in her brain when she had been a baby to store all the information on the 1001 royal families in the galaxy, she'd be totally lost in her search for a husband and stud to help her produce a royal heir.

She just sighed playing with some bubbles floating around in luminescent fashion in her tub.

"Just about…I'm trying to rinse away all that grime from the all those luncheon meetings," she said, "I never get any time to rest…and then the latest chastity test this afternoon…how degrading is that?"

Winter smiled.

"You didn't like the probe droid scanning you?"

Leia made a face.

"It did more than scan me…in fact I'm sure it's a male droid."

Winter rolled her eyes, like what's the difference but Leia knew because after all it had been every nook and cranny of her body that had been scanned and scrutinized for any sign that she'd broken her vow that her royal parents had made that she'd be chaste and pure until marriage.

Yeah she knew now they weren't her real parents and that she'd been adopted through some unholy arrangement that had been carried out with her adopted father Bail Organa, Obi wan Kenobi and of course Yoda. So if she wasn't truly of royal blood…at least not from Alderaan did these rules on chastity still apply to her?

Then again she was born of royalty from Naboo and maybe they had stricter rules of chastity and purity of body that she didn't want to even know about…better to stick with the devil you know than the one you don't. So she'd kept her promise and nothing uncovered by the droid during this most recent probing and scan had shown otherwise.

She got out of the tub and grabbed the robe from winter to wrap around her to prepare for her next audition before another royal suitor…longing for the simplicity of life when she'd been Leia the rebel leader rather than the princess of a planet blown to bits by the Evil Empire.

As she followed Winter into the royal dressing chamber she looked for an escape route but she knew she had to go through with this for the future of the republic of millions and put her own needs aside.

Luke had signed the oath to remain pure and stripped of wealth when he'd signed the register of the Jedi Knights of the galaxy. It'd been required for all of them to do so to be integrated into the new order with the rest of the aliens.

Not that they were aliens of course or of a single species of aliens but often they were viewed as such as those who didn't understand them or their powers. It was to protect them really from being torched at the stake by some of the more primitive cultures in the new society. Luke knew what could happen when suspicion intermixed with superstition and how many Jedi Knights had died this way.

He still hid the fact that Anakin Skywalker had been his father though he wondered if people suspected such given that they shared the same surname. But he kept mum on it and his connection with Darth Vader who remained as mysterious in terms of his origins with most of the populace as he did when he'd first risen up to run the empire for the absentee emperor.

Now both were dust…Vader burned to ashes and the emperor a bundle of static electricity loose in the galaxy somewhere but unable to harm anyone. But Luke had to take charge of the spiritual side of the new order…leave the politics to his twin Leia and handle the reality that without the Jedi Knights to promote the message of goodness and light in the galaxy…things could quickly lead people back to the shadows of the dark side again. The dark side of the Force would always remain a threat to those who dabbled in it. Luke himself had proven strong to resist and he had only his bionic hand to remind him of how close…to the edge of doom he had came before turning his back on evil pursuits.

But most everyone else wasn't as smart and enlightened as he was…and they could just as easily succumb to evil and quietly form a dark resistance to the new republic, much as the evil empire had done with the old republic as it crumbled from corruption and squander. He had spent all night coming up with a ten point plan of spiritual guidance for those who weren't as skilled as he and he would present it to Leia and the rest of the new Senate. They needed to sign up for it…or else all of them would be doomed.

Now he felt it was time to retire for he had a full day tomorrow when he heard a knock at the door. His intuitive side told him it was a certain Coralline pirate turned reluctant rebel general. So he opened the door and let him inside offering him a glass of quaff minus the boozy element.

Han sniffed it suspiciously but gulped it down.

"Come take a seat and we shall talk," Luke invited, "about what troubles you."

Han just glared at him.

"You mean you know…of course you have…you've seen the holophotes. Everyone has by now."

Luke just nodded sagely. Han was smart in his own crafty way but he was way over his head when it came to the reality of ruling politics and the issues of the Force. He would have to settle for a crash course enough to get him back in Leia's good side.

"I have plenty to tell you Han," he said, "If you'll only just listen…."

Han gulped more of the quaff and buckled down to do that.


	9. Chapter 9

Han wished he could feel drunker than he did right now but after the scandal involving his stint as a centerfold, he knew he had to lie low for a while. He'd never meant to make things difficult for Leia in her new role as part of the leadership of the new republic…he'd just had bills to pay and another half dozen or so bounty hunters still looking for him. His debt to Jabba hadn't been his only one and even with Boba Fett now part of some dung excreted by a carnivorous alien on that desert planet he still had to look over his shoulder.

The modeling job had paid some bills including for some renovations on the Falcon…it hadn't been doing much lately except being docked while he'd been settling down in his bachelor pad not too far from where Leia had been living. Now he had to remain in the doghouse so to speak until Leia had forgiven him.

Luke ordered another round of quaff telling him about how his latest visit with Leia had gone…he'd given her the news about his decision to start the school and she'd greeted it with some enthusiasm.

"She's not her usual boisterous self Han," Luke said, "You've got to make things right with her. She's under so much pressure you know."

Han got that…it couldn't be easy taking the helm of the top leadership position in a new government that ruled the galaxy. She'd always been a princess and during the rebellion, a natural leader but it had robbed her of something priceless that she would never get back, that being her childhood. She'd never had one anymore than he did…but in her case her adoptive parents had been indoctrinating her in a life of leadership through service. It had made her so reserved so serious and emerged her in a layer that had been as impenetrable as armor. Until that time they'd spent together fleeing Hoth remaining one nanosecond ahead of the Imperial forces that pursed them across the galaxy…

"When you were in carbonite hanging on the wall at Jabba's palace, she never stopped looking for you."

Han knew that and that he owed her a debt. He owed Luke and the others even Lando, the man who'd initially betrayed them all to Darth Vader but had second thoughts when the Sith Lord kept reengaging on their deal.

"I get that…really I didn't mean to mess things up for her here," Han said, "I just needed the money and I didn't want her to know."

Luke leaned forward.

"I sense you still are of great interest to the bounty hunters that are hunting you right now."

Han nodded, not able to deny that to someone with Jedi powers like the young man sitting in front of him. Luke might still be naïve in many areas but a part of him remained an old soul.

"They won't find me," he said, "I'm lying low until they depart this sector."

Luke sighed.

"Han…they draw closer…I think they saw the photos on the holo-vid of you and that's attracted their interest."

Han chuckled.

"It's attracted a lot of interest including from women," he said, "I've had them show up and follow me down the street."

Luke looked stern.

"What about Leia? You'd sworn your eternal devotion to my sister," he said, "If you can't live up to it, you'd better tell her."

Han shook his head.

"I'm not interested in these other women," he said, "But Leia's handlers have their own ideas on which man is most suited for her and it's not me."

Luke digested that, knowing that it's not likely that a mercenary and pirate even one who'd gone on to become a highly respected and decorated general wouldn't be at the top of the list of appropriate consorts for the princess.

"They are auditioning suitable husbands for her even as we sit here and get drunk," Han said, "Royalty mostly…they each come with pedigrees, resumes and all that."

Luke knew about the rigors of the process. He hadn't wanted Leia to marry so quickly. He'd wanted her to be trained in the Jedi way by himself but she'd begged off of that due to her being overwhelmed with all the responsibilities that went with her new role.

"Han you have to be patient and remember that so much depends on the roles that we all play," he said, "Even you…and the best thing for you to do is to keep yourself out of the spotlight so those who are hunting you can't find you."

Han digested the advice but he wondered if it were too late. After all, the photos of him buck naked save for a strategically placed blaster were all over the holo-waves of the galaxy. Well, if any of the lowlifes for hire showed up hoping to bag him for a bounty, they'd be disappointed.

He had other plans for his own future.

* * *

Leia sighed as she previewed the files including detailed resumes and carefully documented pedigrees of princes from half a dozen royal families from the outer sectors. That mean she had about two dozen candidates to choose from as her royal consort.

Not that it'd be her choice ultimately…it'd be left to the newly formed Senate led by Mon Mothra to pick the man she'd then marry in an elaborate and likely very expensive wedding ceremony. She glanced at the holo-vids of some of the men and found a number of them to be quite handsome. Still this wasn't the route she'd wanted to go. No, she'd found the man she wanted to marry and so what if he weren't a prince or someone who'd been born of anything but meager and murky means? He'd attracted her with more than his ruggedly handsome looks, he had a native intelligence, a strong leadership ability and underneath his crass exterior, a large heart. He'd received numerous military honors for heroism during the rebellion period, why wasn't that good enough to make him worthy of her hand in marriage?

Winter couldn't explain it to her in a way that made her truly accept it in her heart. Oh she'd always had a strong sense of duty and obligation and that'd get her through this episode of her life but she'd just be going through the motions.

The two of them sat at an elegant glass table out in the garden listening to the breeze ruffle the delicate leaves on trees and birds chirping in the branches.

Winter pointed at the photo of Prince Reginald of Oceania.

"He looks handsome enough," she said, "and he's decorated too for the undersea battles with the Imperial forces when they tried to industrialize the gas mines."

Leia had heard the tales and she admired his feats but he just didn't rock her world. She had to remind herself…again that this wasn't her objective. No, she had a job to do and she'd do it with a stiff upper lip befitting her stature. She wouldn't want her late adoptive parents to be ashamed of her failure to pick up the mantle.

"I suppose…I might put him on the interview list," she said, "I haven't decided yet."

Winter nodded.

"His palace is two leagues under the ocean which might take getting used to," she said, "but it boasts some impressive rock gardens…and coral."

Leia shrugged.

"I've got more applicants to look over before I narrow them down on a list," she said, "This just seems so formal, so dry…"

"Not very romantic is it," Winter finished, "but then nothing about royalty is as romantic as it's portrayed to outsiders."

Leia had to agree to that but she'd at least had some romance with Han before reality crashed down on her again and she'd tuck it away in her heart forever even if life and her sense of duty took her in another direction.


	10. Chapter 10

Leia felt like getting drunk again.

Winter had delivered another stack of prospective husbands, all of them members of one royal family or another to peruse through. The last one had gills in all different colors and flippers. He was of the sacred family of the Doodians located in Tanboodah which actually wasn't that far afield of Naboo.

She envied her mother Padme for not having to go through this to get herself a royal consort. Yes, she'd been groomed from birth to be a senator and royal leader at about 11 and her life peaked by 13 turning her into a has been at 15. But there were some things she was spared.

Dying during childbirth from some still unexplained injury caused by Luke and Leia's father had to suck but she'd chosen her heart rather than her duty to the tarnished crown.

Leia knew she'd paid a hefty price but it still had to be better than what she faced.

"I can't marry him Winter," she said, "I think I'll have to toss all the ones with kingdoms under the water. It just seems so…claustrophobic."

Her friend and maidservant sighed.

"Leia…then who's left? You've vetoed everyone including that pair of hunks from Dabootsha."

The former princess folded her arms.

"I don't do twins," she said, "Just being one is hard enough."

She winced knowing that because Luke had this force thing going, he probably sensed the comment the second it came out of her mouth. Maybe it caused him physical pain to do that but damn she was too frustrated these days.

"Really I can't deal with this," Leia said, jumping off her bed, "I need to take a vacation right now."

Winter objected

"You can't…Leia you have to do this for all of us or we're never going to be able to form the new government," she said, "It's your duty."

Leia shook her head.

"I've done enough already," she said, "It's time to look out for me. All my life I was told what to do, how to look including wearing some jawa-awful outfits and I was never allowed to say anything in objection. My father…well I thought he was…he'd whip me with a cane if I even thought of rebelling from his role for me."

Winter rolled her eyes. She so didn't get Leia's attitude. She had been born in difficult circumstances sure, but she'd struck gold being adopted by such a rich and powerful family like the Organas. Bail and his barren wife needed an heir and Leia had arrived just in time. In exchange she wanted for nothing in a galaxy where so many people suffered.

Even Winter had a difficult life until she was chosen out of thousands in the gem mines of Alderaan to be Leia's aide and confidante.

"Luke says I should let the Force be my guide and do some training with him but I can't…I just can't devote myself to that type of life."

Winter sighed again.

"You can't be hanging around with General Solo either…not after that latest scandal…it would be so unseemly."

Leia had known that he'd been restless given how busy she'd been but he'd shocked her with that latest…much more than the revelation about his gambling debts from the sabaac matches. Blame that on Lando, Leia thought as she'd never trusted him.

"I can't help myself with him," Leia said, "He's just so hot and now the whole galaxy knows why. I just can't keep my hands off of him."

Winter shook her head.

"You're just like your mother…"

Which one…Leia wondered…real or adoptive?

"The King's consort had a series of lovers to keep her happy when he was at a Senate meeting…but she was discreet about it."

Leia hadn't known about her mother's dalliances. She'd heard the rumors…checked out the headlines in the holo-video tabloids but hadn't paid them much mind.

"Winter…I'm not my mother," Leia said, "Either one of them…I'm in love with Han…I told him so and I meant it. I just didn't know life could be so complicate once the rebellion was over and done with."

Her aide shook her head.

"Mon Mothra's not going to be happy if she finds out. She's depending on you to find the right consort to strengthen the new Republic."

Leia was tired of the older leader who about half wanted to be the esteemed leader while the other half wanted her to step down.

She threw up her hands.

"I don't know…this is just too much pressure," she said, "I need to take that vacation and that's what I intend to do."

* * *

Luke had been meditating in the old temple he was restoring back to its glorious days during the era that the Jedi reigned supreme over the galaxy. He was in a lotus position humming to himself for better concentration.

Then a horrible pain hit his temple nearly knocking him out of his trance. Leia had thought something not so nice about her twin brother. It wounded him terribly when she did that rather than embrace her gift, her heritage and his willingness to teach her what Yoda and Obi-wan had taught him.

She was much more vulnerable than she realized and could still be taken over by the Evil Sith who weren't all destroyed but merely hiding, hoping to ride out the storm. Luke prepared him for their reemergence and warned others, even though nobody paid him any mind.

They'd learn soon enough that he'd been right all long. The Jedi Order's 15 minutes of fame had been less than that. Not that many of them were alive…just him.

Lando had offered to do him some good PR for his new academy for a price and Luke considered it. The entrepreneurs and ex-pirate was less than pure but he knew that he could be an effective selling tool.

Now he just had to find the right words to get him to do it the way that he wanted…using his mind tricks didn't work on con artists like Lando.

But he had to figure out a way to get his sister by his side before that.


End file.
